Survey: Most e-commerce companies expect better holiday sales

Dallas -- A survey released Tuesday by Chase Paymentech, a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase & Co., found that online companies are expecting the 2012 holiday shopping season to be better than last year.

According to the Chase Paymentech eHoliday Shopping Monitor, 59% of e-commerce companies surveyed expect better sales volume this season than in 2011, while almost half (47%) expect it to be better than pre-recession levels in 2007.

“E-commerce payment activity provides a unique window into the country’s economic health during the busiest shopping season of the year,” said Mike Duffy, president of Chase Paymentech.

Nearly half (45%) of the companies surveyed expect to see an increase in their e-commerce sales over last year, and 53% expect their e-commerce holiday sales to remain similar to last year. On average, these companies expect more than half (51%) of their holiday sales to come from e-commerce. While the e-commerce cash register rings, mobile commerce is expected to account for only 6% of holiday sales.

However, nearly half (45%) do not believe average ticket prices will change from last year and only 39%) expect average ticket prices to be higher.

Despite the expectations for a strong shopping season, the e-commerce companies surveyed expect that they will face some marketing challenges over the coming months. More than half (52%) indicated “reaching new customers” would be “significantly challenging,” followed by “offering competitive pricing” (25%) and “reaching return customers” (23%).

Of those who plan to use digital promotions, companies said Facebook (86%) and Twitter (70%) are the social media sites they plan to use most to reach customers.

The vast majority (65%) surveyed believe the 2012 shopping season will have a positive impact on the U.S. economy. Overall, 80% say the U.S. economy will either remain the same or improve over the next 12 months, compared with only 20% expecting conditions to get worse.

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